Insert for a Food Holding Tray

ABSTRACT

A removable insert for a food holding tray provides one or more compartments such that the compartments can become encapsulated environments, extending the time that a pre-cooked food item remains palatable to most people.

The content of the Applicant's co-pending patent application Ser. No.13/326,667 filed on Dec. 15, 2011, titled, “Apparatus for PreservingCooked Food Palatability,” is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety. The content of the Applicant's co-pending patent applicationSer. No. 13/326,607 filed Dec. 15, 2011, titled, “Method of Extendingthe Time During Which Pre-Cooked Foods Are Kept Palatable,” is alsoincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Many fast-food restaurants prepare food items before they are actuallyordered and keep them warm until they are ordered by a customer. Apre-cooked, i.e. a pre-prepared, food product can thus be sold andserved to the customer in significantly less time than it takes toprepare each food item after it is ordered.

A problem with pre-cooked foods is that they lose their taste orpalatability over time. While taste or palatability is subjective,empirical data shows that most people will dislike the taste of ahamburger after it has been “held” or kept in a warming tray for morethan about 15 minutes. Fast-food restaurant operators therefore keeppre-cooked foods warm and ready to serve for only a relatively shortperiod of time, typically fifteen to twenty minutes. When that time haselapsed, the pre-cooked food product is disposed of. Extending theholding time of a pre-cooked food product is therefore contrary to thecommon and accepted practice of fast-food restaurant operators.

Many prior art fast-food restaurants store pre-cooked foods that includehamburger patties in relatively large, open-top trays, which can holdnumerous patties. An apparatus that makes or enables prior art traysextend cooked food product palatability would be an improvement over theprior art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional prior art food holdingtray 12 that is provided with a fitted, removable insert;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the insert 10 shown in FIG. 1, removedfrom the food holding tray 12 shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross section of the prior art food holding tray shown inFIG. 1, and holding the insert; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a sleeve configured to receive a priorart food holding tray having an insert, such as the one shown in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional prior art food holdingtray 12, provided with a fitted, removable insert 10. The insert 10effectively acts to fill and thereby reduce the open interior volume ofthe tray. It thus reduces the volume of air in the tray that can shortenpre-cooked food product palatability. Stated another way, when a large,open-volume, open-top prior art food holding tray 12 is provided with aninsert 10, and a pre-cooked food product is held in a compartment in theinsert instead of in the open tray, the insert 10 enables the foodholding tray 12 and insert 10 combination to provide an “encapsulatedenvironment” for the pre-cooked food product by reducing most of the airthat would otherwise surround a pre-cooked food item.

An “encapsulated environment” is defined in the applicant's co-pendingpatent application Ser. No. 13/326,607, filed Dec. 15, 2011 and entitled“Method of Extending the Time During Which Pre-Cooked Foods Are KeptPalatable,” the entire contents of which are incorporated here and byreference. An encapsulated environment is also defined in theapplicant's co-pending patent application Ser. No. 13/326,667 filed Dec.15, 2011 and entitled “Apparatus for Preserving Cooked FoodPalatability,” the contents of which are also incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

The food holding tray 12 has a substantially rectangular-shaped open top14 through which the insert 10 can be placed into the food holding tray12. The tray 12 also has an inside width 16, which is the distancebetween two, elongated, parallel and opposing sides 18 and 20. An insidelength 22 for the tray 12 is considered to be the distance between twoopposing ends 24 and 26 of the food holding tray. The ends 24, 26 holdthe tray sides 18, 20 in a fixed, spaced-apart relationship to eachother. In addition to having an open top 14, an inside width 16, and aninside length 22 the food holding tray 12 has an inside depth 28, whichis considered to be the distance between the open top 14 and a bottom 32of the food holding tray 12.

Prior art food holding trays 12 are sized, shaped and arranged to holdnumerous pre-cooked food items, typically pre-cooked hamburger patties,in an environment that does not restrict air flow, even when the traysare placed in a food holding cabinet. A well-known problem with storinga pre-cooked food item in an open tray 12 is that the pre-cooked fooditem loses its palatability relatively quickly. When pre-cooked fooditem demand is high, as happens during certain times of a day,pre-cooked foods are kept in large trays for relatively short periods oftime. On other hand, when demand is low, it is not possible for a priorart tray to provide a substantially closed compartment for individualpatties. The insert 10 thus makes it possible for a prior art foodholding tray 12 to be “re-purposed” to provide one or more encapsulatedenvironments when pre-cooked food product demand is low.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of an insert 10and which is sized, shaped and arranged to fig inside a prior art foodholding tray 12. The insert 10 has two elongated, parallel and opposingsides 34 and 36 which are held in a spaced-apart relationship by twoopposing ends 38 and 40.

The insert 10 can be seen in FIG. 2 to be substantially rectangular. Ithas a width dimension 42 substantially less than its length dimension44. The sides 34 and 36 each have a top edge, or surface, 46 as well asan opposing bottom edge or surface 48. The distance between the top 46and bottom 48 of a side 36, 34 defines a wall height 50 for the sides34, 36.

Four disc-shaped depressions 52, 54, 56 and 58 are formed into asubstantially planar top surface 60. Different numbers of depressionscan be formed depending on the width of the insert 10 as well as itslength.

The disc-shaped depressions 52, 54, 56, 58 are considered herein to befood holding compartments. Since their shape corresponds to the shape ofa hamburger patty, which is known in advance, the shape of thedepressions is considered herein to also be known in advance andtherefore predetermined.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the food holding tray 12 shown inFIG. 1 with the insert 10 in place inside the food holding tray 12. In afirst embodiment, the upright sides 34, 36 of the insert 10 have anominal vertical height 50 equal to or slightly less than the insidedepth of the food holding tray 12. In a second embodiment, the uprightsides 34, 36 of the insert 10 have a nominal vertical height 50 equal toor slightly greater than the inside depth of the food holding tray 12.

FIG. 3 appears to show the openings of the food holding compartments 52,54, 56 and 58 at the same level or just slightly below the top 14 of thetray in order to facilitate covering the compartments so they becomeencapsulated environments. In a first embodiment, i.e., with uprightsides 34 equal to or less than the inside tray depth, more space betweenthe openings of the depressions and a covering plane, such as a shelf ofa holding cabinet, provides an increased space through which air canflow. In the second embodiment, a smaller space between the openings ofthe depressions and a covering plane will reduce the space through whichair can flow. In both embodiments, the nominal height 50 of the sides ofthe insert 10 is considered to be equal to or substantially equal to thevertical separation distance between the top and bottom of the sides 34,36.

As stated above, the insert 10 is sized, shaped and arranged to fitwithin a prior art food holding tray 12, which is itself sized, shapedand arranged to store numerous pre-cooked food items, typicallyhamburger patties. The dimensions of the tray 12 and the dimensions ofthe insert 10 are selected such that when the tray 12 with the insert 10is placed into a heated shelf of a food holding cabinet, the foodholding compartments 52, 54, 56 and 58 in the insert are covered by ashelf of the food holding cabinet, converting the open compartments intoencapsulated environments.

In an alternate embodiment, a tray 12 with an insert 10 can be placedinto a sleeve 70, which is sized, shaped and arranged such that when theprior art food holding tray 12 provided with an insert 10 is placedwithin the sleeve 70, the combination provides encapsulated environmentsembodied as the compartments covered by the sleeve. Stated another way,the sleeve 70 acts as a cover to the open compartments 52, 54, 56 and 58when they are placed into the sleeve 70.

As best seen in FIG. 4, a sleeve 70 has two opposing vertical sidewalls72 and 74, which have a height 76 substantially equal to the height 28of the food holding tray 12. An opening 78 into the interior volumeprovided by the sleeve's sidewalls 72, 74 enables the food holding tray12 and the insert 10 to be slid into and out of the sleeve 70. Thesleeve 70 can be configured to be latched into or clipped into a shelfof a prior art food holding cabinet. The sleeve 70 can also be used withthe tray 12/insert 10, without a food holding cabinet, i.e. the sleeve70 can be placed on a surface outside of a food holding cabinet such asa table top or counter.

In the alternate embodiment, the height 28 of the tray 12 is just lessthan the height 76 of the sleeve. The space between the cover providedby the top surface 80 of the sleeve 70 and the top surface 50 of theinsert 10 is preferably zero but less than about one-quarter of an inch.The top surface 80 of the sleeve thus provides a cover for thecompartments 52, 54, 56 and 58 formed into the insert 10.

The foregoing description is for purposes of illustration only. The truescope of the invention is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A removable insert for a food holding tray, thefood holding tray having an open top, an inside width between twoopposing sides, an inside length between two opposing ends, and aninside depth between the open top and a bottom, the food holding traybeing is sized, shaped and arranged to hold a number of pre-cooked fooditems, the insert comprising: first and second opposing sides; first andsecond opposing ends configured to hold the opposing sides in a firstfixed, spaced-apart relationship to each other; a surface extendingbetween the first and second opposing sides; a food product holdingcompartment formed into the insert surface, between the opposing sidesand between the opposing ends, the holding compartment comprising adepression formed into the surface of the insert, the depression havinga predetermined depth and shape, the predetermined depth corresponding athickness of a food item to be held in the holding compartment, thepredetermined shape corresponding to a shape of the food item to be heldin the holding compartment; wherein the insert is configured such thatwhen placed into the food holding tray, the insert reduces the number ofpre-cooked food items that can be held in the food holding tray, to afixed and smaller number of pre-cooked food items.
 2. The removableinsert of claim 1, wherein the first and second sides of the insert eachhave a top and a bottom and a nominal height, substantially equal to avertical separation distance between the top and bottom of the first andsecond sides, the nominal height being less than or equal to the insidedepth of the food holding tray, wherein the surface of the insert issubstantially planar and located substantially between the tops of thefirst and second sides, the food holding compartment formed into theinsert surface having an open top and a closed bottom, the nominalheight of the first and second sides being substantially equal to theinside depth of the food holding tray.
 3. The removable insert of claim1, wherein the first and second opposing sides are spaced apart fromeach other by a distance less than the inside width of the food holdingtray.
 4. The removable insert of claim 2, wherein the first and secondopposing ends are spaced apart from each other by a distance less thanthe inside length of the food holding tray.
 5. This removable insert ofclaim 2, further comprising a sleeve comprising first and secondsubstantially upright sides and a horizontally-oriented cover supportedby the first and second upright sides, the sleeve being configured toreceive the food holding tray with the insert therein and to provide acover to the food holding compartment in the insert.
 6. The removableinsert of claim 5, wherein the sleeve is configured to provide a spacebetween the cover and the top surface of the insert that is less thanabout one-quarter of an inch.